Tort Report: Understanding Legal Terms

A tort is a type of civil action in which an injured person (sometimes multiple injured people) sues another person or entity that caused the injury. These are often called negligence or personal injury cases. When dealing with a tort case, you may run into several terms that are new to you.

Use the list below to learn more about legal terminology involving tort lawsuits:

• Comparative negligence. In most states you can recover compensation for your injuries even if you were partly to blame, and your compensation is reduced by your percentage of fault. So, if you were 10% to blame for your injuries and your damages are $100,000, you would only receive $90,000. In states that use pure comparative negligence you can recover compensation even if you were 99% to blame. In states that use modified comparative negligence, you can only recover compensation if you are less than 50% to blame or less than 51% to blame, depending on the state.
• Compensatory damages. Money that is awarded to compensate the plaintiff for his or her economic and noneconomic losses.
• Contingency fee. Attorney’s fee that is paid only if money is won for the client. The fee is a percentage of the recovery, rather than an hourly rate.
• Contributory negligence. In states that follow the pure contributory negligence rule, you are barred from recovering compensation for your injuries if you are even 1% to blame. Only four states and the District of Columbia still use this antiquated rule.
• Defendant. The party that is being sued.
• Economic damages. The monetary costs of an injury, such as medical expenses and lost income.
• Negligence. Failure to exercise the basic level of care that an ordinary person would have used under the same circumstances.
• Noneconomic damages. Losses that do not have a specific monetary cost, such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life.
• Plaintiff. The person bringing the lawsuit.
• Punitive damages. Money that is awarded to punish a defendant for particularly egregious behavior, rather than to compensate the victim.
• Statute of limitations. The period of time during which legal action must be taken after an injury occurs or, in many cases, after the injury is discovered. Once the statute of limitations expires you lose your right to sue.